Tissue Eng Regen Med.  2017 Aug;14(4):393-401. 10.1007/s13770-017-0061-2.

Co-culture of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells and Endothelial Cells Using Porous Biopolymer Microcarriers: A Feasibility Study for Bone Tissue Engineering

• Jin GZ
• Kim HW

• KMID: 2394973
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-017-0061-2

Abstract

Delivery of stem cells with osteogenesis while enabling angiogenesis is important for vascularized bone tissue engineering. Here a three-dimensional (3D) co-culture system of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) was designed using porous microcarriers, and the feasibility of applying to bone tissue engineering was investigated in vitro. Highly porous spherical microcarriers made of degradable biopolymers were prepared with sizes of hundreds of micrometers. The microcarriers loaded with DPSCs were co-cultured with ECs embedded in a hydrogel of type I collagen. An optimal coculture medium that preserves the viability of ECs while stimulating the osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs was found to be a 10:1 of osteogenic medium:endothelial medium. The co-cultured constructs of DPSCs/ECs showed significantly higher level of alkaline phosphatase activity than the mono-cultured cells. Moreover, the expressions of genes related with osteogenesis and angiogenesis were significantly up-regulated by the co-cultures with respect to the mono-cultures. Results imply the interplay between ECs and DPSCs through the designed 3D co-culture models. The microcarrier-enabled co-cultured cell system is considered to be useful as an alternative tool for future vascularized bone tissue engineering.

Keyword

3D co-culture; Porous microcarriers; Bone tissue engineering model; Stem cell

MeSH Terms

Alkaline Phosphatase
Biopolymers*
Bone and Bones*
Coculture Techniques*
Collagen Type I
Dental Pulp*
Endothelial Cells*
Feasibility Studies*
Humans*
Hydrogel
In Vitro Techniques
Osteogenesis
Stem Cells*
Alkaline Phosphatase
Biopolymers
Collagen Type I
Hydrogel